Building owners still await answers after 2011 landslide VIDEO

TROY - It has been a year since Tropical Storm Irene ravaged several areas of the Capital District, but on Brunswick Road, a situation many business owners thought would be resolved by the end of 2011 have yet to see any progress, they say.

Following last year's landslide, two homes, an automotive garage and another home at the top of the hill were severely damaged and the entire area at the bottom of the hill was immediately evacuated at the time of the storm. The buildings at the bottom, though, belonged to property owners Gordon Enfield of Enfield Realty and Tom Gabriel.

Both have said they suffered a massive financial blow as a result.

Enfield said the automotive garage and some of the apartment buildings that were crushed by the slide amounted to several thousand dollars a month in lost income.

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He isn't bitter toward the city or the Federal Emergency Management Agency, though, as he understands FEMA could be overwhelmed by the various other requests in the Northeast as a result of the storm.

"FEMA is difficult to work with but they probably have been as cooperative as they can," Enfield said, adding he has been working with the City on a weekly basis. "I think the City of Troy is working hard at finalizing the work that has to be done across the street. I find them very cooperative. They can only be as cooperative as FEMA and New York State Officer of Emergency Management allows."

Fortunately for Enfield, as a realtor, he does have other properties he owns and leases out to people but Gabriel has lost all his income on the properties in the city. Both Enfield and he are still paying taxes and mortgages on their properties, but both have seen insurance hikes since the companies know the buildings are not inhabited.

Gabriel said he has paid $20,000 in mortgage payments over the last year but has lost another $40,000 in income. He said he is working in Manhattan for the time being.

"I have a mortgage to pay and the bank won't let me out without affecting my credit," Gabriel said. "I pay my taxes up to date."

Gabriel said he is past the point of anger and is now just frustrated by the process. He is confused as to why the City could have them evacuated from their properties but they are not allowed to get back into them.

"The big thing with me was I was not affected by the mudslide," Gabriel said. "[The buildings] were 100 feet away from it. [The city] just made a judgment call."

City Director of Operations Bill Chamberlin said that was exactly the case as it was a matter of public safety and the city felt it could have been liable if the area was not evacuated. He sympathizes with both Enfield and Gabriel but said it really isn't anyone's fault. The problem is mainly because the properties are privately owned.

According to City officials, the work that needs to be done to stabilize the embankment and prevent it from reacting to heavy rain fall as it did during Irene can't be done as the funding is not yet there. The other difficulty comes from the fact the properties are privately owned.

"Without those properties we can't fix the hill," said Chamberlin. "The whole kicker here is the private vs. public property."

According to City officials, it is still waiting on another $2.1 million to not only fix the embankment but to also purchase the properties beneath as it would allow the City to perform the work that needs to be done.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a dispute between FEMA and the NYSOEM as to who is supposed to pick up the bill, according to Chamberlin.

FEMA did not comment on the issue and a NYSOEM spokesman said the agency is still working with FEMA to address the project.

City Engineer Russ Reeves said he understands how overwhelmed FEMA must be with various other projects in the Northeast. Still, he said FEMA has been very helpful throughout the ordeal.

The city has already given over $1 million to bring the embankment back to its "pre-disaster condition" but Reeves said the area is not clear of any possible danger if another storm were to happen.

"The critical thing most people don't realize is once you have a landslide, it's still a dangerous situation," Reeves said. "Even a 50-year storm could cause it to fail."

Due to the heavy amount of rainfall, there was a substantial amount of water in the hill, making the soil to be more buoyant and causing the soil to lose its ability to hold itself up, according to Reeves.

What needs to be done now, according to Reeves, is various trees in the way of remediation need to be cut down and the slope will have to be made more gradual. Then the city will cut finger drains into the embankment in order to drain the soil mass and get rid of some of the water.

Reeves said they will then go over the front of the embankment with granular material along with a bed of shot rock stone in front to weigh things down. A drainage pipe will be put into the ground to collect the water along with a catch basin at the bottom. They will then direct the groundwater into the Poestenkill Creek.

"What we have to do is work of remediation in the context of FEMA approval," Reeves said. "But we have not received the final project worksheet, which details what is permitted and what will be reimbursed."